From: schillin@spock.usc.edu   
      
   "Jan C. =?iso-8859-1?Q?Vorbr=FCggen?="  writes:   
      
   >> probably because the Pioneer and Voyager missions ended by seeing NASA   
   >> spend many megabucks over many years maintaining ground teams and   
   >> facilities to pick up a steadily declining trickle of bits, only to   
   >> face boos and catcalls when they eventually zeroed the budget and pulled   
   >> the plug on the Plucky Little Spacecraft What Was Still Bravely Exploring   
   >> The Cosmos.   
      
   >In Galileo's case, it was almost out of attitude-control fuel. The time   
   >would have been near when it lost attitude control and could no longer   
   >communicate with Earth because of that. No need to pull the plug.   
      
      
   Los of attitude control doesn't mean you can no longer communicate with   
   Earth, it just means that you need to make the extra effort to suck bits   
   through the low-gain antenna in random orientation[1].  So the need to   
   pull the plug is all the more urgent.   
      
      
   [1] Not that this would be as big a deal for Galileo as for most spacecraft,   
       of course...   
      
      
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